Counterpoising or equipoising mechanism



Nov. 5, 1968 R. A. LEPORATI 3,409,261

COUNTERPOISING OR EQUIPOISING MECHANISM Fil ed Nov. 7, 1966 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. RA Y M ouo A. L 5P0)": 1|

ATTOENE 7 5.

Nov. 5, 1968 R. A. LEPORATI 3,409,261

COUNTERPOISING OR EQUIPOISING MECHANISM Filed Nov. 7, 1966 2Sheets-Sheet 2 RAYMano A, LEPoRATl' ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent Office 3,409,261 r COUN TERPOISIN G OR EQUIPOISIN GMECHANISM RaymondVALLeporati, Pal-ma, Ohio, assignorto Visual Systems,Inc.,a corporation of Ohio 4 Filed Nov. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 592,421

' 12 Claims. (Cl. 248-281) ABSTRACTOF DISCLOSURE counterpoising orequipoising mechanism having a pair of arms arranged with spaced blockmembers in a parallelogram, one block member being pivotally supportedand the other or free block member being adapted to support a loadtherefrom, a pair of springs disposed on opposite sides of the arms, oneend of each being connected tothe upper arm near the supported blockmember and the other end of. each being connected to the said free blockmember for aiding in the support of the same, the springs each beingencased in telescopic. tubes, a cable having an end connected to theupper arm near the free block member and'its opposite end connectedto anend of another coil spring, the cable being reeved around a pulleyjournalled on the supported block member,.the other end of said anothercoil spring being connected to the lower arm near the free block memberto aid in support of the same. x t

.The invention relates to counterpoising or equipoising mechanismutilized for the ready adjustment of the positioning of a load and themaintenance of a load in a desired position.

There are a number of situations in which it is desired to have anarticle held at an elevated position out on the end of an arm and tohave the article maintained at such a desired position withease andsafety. This invention is directed to an efficient and easily operatedmechanism for supporting a load in such a manner that the load may bereadily maintained at an elevated position at a desired location andsafely maintained at such position.

One example of a use of this general nature and to which this inventionis particularly adapted, is for the support of a small televisionreceiver at a desired location in front of a patient in a hospital bed.The mechanism permits the receiver to be easily adjusted for viewingpurposes adapted to the particular patient and also permits thetelevision receiver to be raised and swung up out of the way whendesired. The television receiver is supported as a load at the end of anarm which in turn may be the end arm of a series of pivotal arms. Byreason of the extreme ease of adjustment and the safemaintenance of theparts inthe position to which adjusted, the present mechanism isadmirably suited for such purpose.

It is an object of the invention to meet the shortcomings of the priordevices and to provide for efficiency, ease of operation, and safety inthe use of such counterpoising or equipoising mechanisms.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of this invention may be had byreferring to the following description and claims, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which: l

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a preferred form of the improvedmechanismand showing some of the internal parts in broken lines;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view looking down on the top of the apparatus shownin FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view partially in section of the forward or outer arm ofthe apparatus incorporating the counterpoising or equipoising mechanism,the arm being shown partially in section and being illustrated in variedpossible positions. The arm in a horizontal'pos'ition "is shown in fulllines, and the arm in a possible raised posi-f tion and in a possiblelowered position is shown inbroken lines; j f

'FIGURE 4' is a cross sectional view takenthro'ugh the line 4-4 ofFIGUREl;and 5! FIGURE 5 is a cross sectional view taken through theline5-5ofFIGURE 1. The apparatus as illustrated has a' first or innerarn'f 11, a second or intermediate arm'12 and a third or oute'r arm 13.The first arm 11 has a pivot post which is'indicated by the numeral 14extending downwardly from its lower end, which pivot post is adapted tofit into around socket of a support adapted to permit the swingingof thearm 11 on the axis of post 14. Such" a support could be mounted on theframe or bedstead of a hospital bedfifi the event that the apparatus istobe used for that pule pose. The arm 12 has a pivot post'15: extendingdown wardly from its lower end which pivot post 15 is pivotallyaccommodated in a round socket 16 formed on the upper end of arm 11.

There is a pivot post 17 carried by the inner end of arm 13 which pivotpost 17 is accommodated in a round socket 18 on the upper end of arm 12.The respective pivot posts and sockets are such that the arms mayreadily pivot relative to each other.

In the use of the apparatus for supporting a television receiver, acoaxial electrical cable 19 is provided. The lower end of the cable 19adjacent the post 15 is adapted to be inserted into an appropriatereceptacle for supplying electrical energy and the signal to thetelevision repoising mechanism utilized in the apparatus. ,In the armceiver. The cable 19 extends through the several arms 11, 12 and 13. Atthe pivot joint between post 15 and socket 16 there is a rotatableelectrical connection so constructed in the usual manner as toelectrically separate the conductors of the cable 19 and at the sametime to permit rotation of arm 12 in an are around the axis of socket16. Similarly, there is arotatable electrical connection of similarconstruction at the pivot joint between post 17 and socket 18 so as topermit pivoting while maintaining proper electrical connections betweenthe parts of the cable 19.

Carried at the free or extreme outer end of the arm 13- there is a postsupport 26 pivotally connectedby the pivot pin 28 in such manner thatthe post 26 may swing in an are on the axis of the pivot pin 28. At thelower end of the post 26 there is a swivel connection 27 which mayrotate on the axis of the post 26. At the location of the swivelconnection 27 there is a rotatableelectrical connection 22 similar inconstruction to the electrical connections 20 and 21 which maintainsproper electrical connections between the parts of the cable 19 whilepermitting rotation.

Carried by the swivel connection 27 is a bail 24 which has side armsspaced to accommodate a television receiver 25 therebetween, thereceiver 25 beingshown in broken lines in FIGURE 1. The receiver 25 issupported' on a supporting member 23 which has side arms pivotally con;

nected by two pivot connections 29 to the opposite side,

arms of the bail support 24. By means of the pivot connections 29 whichare preferably maintained in a rela tively tight condition, the receiver25 may be slightly tilted relative to the bail. It is also to be notedthat the receiver 25 may be shifted by rotating the' bail 24 on the axisof the swivel connectionl27, and also that the receiver 25 may be swungon the pivot axis of the pivot pin 28 which supports the post 26. Thus alarge varietyof movements and adjustments may be .made impositioning thereceiver 25 relative to the outer arm 13. The outer arm 13 includes thecounterpoising or-equi- Patented Nov. 5, 1968 13 there is aparallelogram structure made up of an upper long arm 31 and a lower longarm 32 positioned and maintained parallel to each other. The inner endof long arm 31 is pivotally connected to an inner short arm or firstblock member 33 by means of a pivot pin 37. The lower long arm 32 ispivotally connected to the inner short arm or first block member 33 by apivot pin 38 spaced from the pivot pin 37. The outer end of the upperlong arm 31 is pivotally connected to an outer short arm or second block34 by a pivot pin 35. The outer end of the lower long arm 32 ispivotally connected to the outer short arm or second block member 34 bya pivot pin 36 spaced from the pin 35. The spacing between the pivotpins 37 and 38 is the same as the spacing between the pivot pins and 36.Thus the arms 31, 32, 33 and 34 form a parallelogram structure. I

The inner short arm 33 is a casting having two spaced side walls 33A and33B providing an open niche or space therebetween. Pivotally carried bythese side walls 33A and 33B, as better seen in FIGURE 4, is a pulley 39journalled onan axle pin 40 secured to the respective side walls 33A and33B.

The outer short arm or second block member 34 also has two parallelspaced side walls 34A and 34B which provide an open niche or spacetherebetween.

Anchored to the upper long arm 31 adjacent to the pivot pin 35 by meansof an anchor pin 43 is one end of a flexible steel cable 41. This cable41 is reeved or wound around the pulley 39 carried by the short arm 33and thence back again to where it is connected to one end of a coilspring 42. The other end of the coil spring 42 is anchored by means ofan anchor pin 44 to the lower long arm 32 near or adjacent to the pivotpin 36. The tension and bias of the spring 42 and the arrangement of thecable, the pulley and the anchors is such that the two long arms 31 and32 are resiliently urged toward each other, that is so as to flatten theparallelogram. This ten-. sion or bias of the spring 42 imparted to thestructure through the cable and pulley arrangement shown is such thatthe arm 13 is urged either upwardly toward the raised position shown inFIGURE 3 or downwardly toward the lowered position shown in FIGURE 3.

If there were no external forces or restraints whatever upon theapparatus and the parallelogram were perfectly formed so as to have 90angles between the several arms thereof, then the parts would be in theposition shown in solid lines in FIGURE 3. However, any slight bias orimpression of force either upwardly or downwardly permits the bias ofthe spring to exert its force so as to either tend to raise the armtoward its upward position or to lower the arm toward its loweredposition through the tendency to move the two long arms toward eachother.

In addition to the foregoing there is incorporated in the outer arm 13 apair of coil springs 45 and 46 which aid in supporting the load carriedby the outer end of the arm, such as the load of the television receiver25. These coil springs 45 and 46 are disposed on opposite sides of thearm 13 and are arranged and biased to aid in supporting the load, thatis toward raising the outer end of the parallelogram structure.

Extending through and carried by the upper arm 31 at its end closest tothe pivot pin 37 is a cross pin 47. Threadably secured to the oppositeends of the cross pin 47 which protrude outwardly from the arm 31 are apair of threaded sleeves 49 and 50. Spacers or washers 48 are interposedbetween the inner ends of the sleeves 49 and 50 and the arm 31. Theinner end of the first coil spring 45, that is its end closest to thepivot pin 37, is hooked around the sleeve 49 so as to be firmly anchoredthereto. Similarly, the inner end of the second coil spring 46 is hookedaround the sleeve 50 so as to be firmly anchored thereto.

Extending through and carried by the lower arm'32 at its end closest tothe pivot pin 36 is a cross pin 57. Threadably mounted to the outer endsof the cross pin 57 protruding from the arm 32 are threaded sleeves 59and 60.

A pair of spacers or washers 58 are inserted between the arm 32 and theinner ends of the sleeves 59 and 60. The outer end of first coil spring45 is hooked around and securely anchored to the sleeve 59. Similarly,the outer end of second coil spring 46 is hooked around and anchored tothe sleeve'60. The bias or tension of the coil springs 45 and 46 is suchas to resiliently urge the outer end of long arm 32 upwardly relative tothe elevation of pivot pin 37 Thus the resilient force of the coilsprings 45 and 46 is suchas to resiliently aid in the support of a loadcarried by the outer end of the parallelogram structure. This resilientaid of the coil springs 45 and 46 to support the load is exerted whilein all positions of the arm 13, including all of the positionsillustrated in FIGURE 3.

To guard the coil springs 45 and 46 and to prevent injury to anyoneinadvertently contacting the springs there are provided telescopic tubecovers. For first coil spring 45 there is provided a short telescopingtube 53 which has a transverse opening therethrough into which thesleeve 49 extends. A screw 51 threadably secured to the outer end of thesleeve 49 holds the short telescoping tube 53 on the sleeve 49. .A longtelescoping tube 55 is similarly carried by the sleeve 59, which sleeve59 extends into a transverse opening in the lower or outer end of thetube 55. A screw 61 secures the long tube 55 on the sleeve 59. The tubes53 and 55 are in telescoping arrangement so as to extend and contract asthe coil spring 45 extends or contracts and thus to maintain protectionto the spring 45 at all times. The telescopic tubes are concentric withthe axis of the spring 45. Similarly, on the other side of theparallelogram there is a short telescopic tube 54 held on the sleeve 50by means of a screw 52. Similarly the lower or outer end of alongtelescoping tube 56 is secured to thesleeves 60 by means of a screw 62.The tubes 54 and 56 are mounted on the sleeves 50 and 60 in the samemanner as described in connection with the tubes 53 and To protect thecable 41 and springs 42 within the space defined by the parallelogramstructure there is provided a cover guard 63 of .inverted U-shape.Screws 64 secure the guard 63 to the top of the upper long arm 31. Theguard 63.being secured to the arm 31 follows the movements thereof. Atthe forward and lower corner of the guard 63 there are provided onopposite sides of the guard dwells or niches 63A which are so arrangedand formed as to act as stops or limits whereby the sleeves 59 and 60 atthe lower and outer ends of the coil springs 45 and 46 may fit into. andabut the confining wall of the dwells 63A. When the arm 13 is in theraised position shown in broken lines in FIGURE 3, then the sleeve 59fits into the dwell 63A and limits or stops any further upward swingingor movement of the arm 13.

By means of the novel mechanism shown, safety is provided in themanipulation and in the support of a load at a desired elevation andposition. Great flexibility and maneuverability is provided and at thesame time the adjustment is made with great ease and little effort. Theparts are so counterpoised and equipoised that the load such as atelevision receiver is maintained at just the desired position to whichit is adjusted. It is understood of course that the tension or bias ofthe various springs is adjusted and arranged so as to accommodate forthe load to be carried, such as for a particular television receiver forexample.

The present disclosure includes that contained in the appended claims aswell as in the foregoing description.

Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with acertain degree of particularity, it is understood that the presentdisclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of exampleand that numerous changes in the details of construction and thecombination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafterclaimed.

What is claimed is: g r 1". Counterpoising orequipoising'rriechanismsadapted to be" supported adjacent one end by" a pivot support apd tosupport" a" nasa adjacent the oth'er end, comprising iii combination afirst block member having 'apivot portion interengageable with saidpiyotsupport to permit swinging of the mechanism" aboutan upright pivotaxis adjacent said one endmgsecond-iblock'member adapted to support aload carried thereby, a pair of parallel arms arranged in an'uprightplane and each'having its opposite ends *pivotally connected at'spafcedflocations to'the respective -block membersto form aparallelogramj'lthe spacing of said parallel arms being-variablempomthevariation of the included angles betwee n the respective parallelarmsbndrhe'res' ec'tive block r'nembeis, a'pull'ey' journalled to one of saidblock members, a flexible elongated member anchored to the parallelogramadjacent the pivot connection between one of said parallel arms and theother ofv said block members, a first elongated resilient member havinga first end secured to one end of said flexible elongated member andhaving its opposite end anchored to the parallelogram adjacentthe pivotconnection between the other of said parallel arms and said other ofsaid block members, said flexible elongated member being reeved aboutsaid pulley, the resilient bias of said first elongated resilient memberbeing such that said arm members are resiliently urged toward each otherto decrease the included angles between the respective parallel arms andthe respective block members, and a second elongated resilient memberhaving a first end anchored to the parallelogram adjacent the pivotconnection between one of said arm members and one of said block membersand a second end anchored to the parallelogram adjacent the pivotconnection between the other of said arm members and the other of saidblock members, the resilient bias of said second elongated resilientmember being such that said other block member carried by said armmembers is resiliently urged upwardly in said upright plane inopposition to the force of gravity imposed thereon by the said loadcarried thereby.

2. Mechanism as claimed in claim 1 and in which said flexible elongatedmember is a cable, said first elongated resilient member is a coilspring, and said second elongated resilient member is a coil spring.

3. Mechanism as claimed in claim 1- and in which said second elongatedresilient member is formed of two coil springs disposed parallel to eachother on opposite sides of said parallelogram, and including telescopictubular guards about each of said coil springs to guard the same.

4. Mechanism as claimed in claim 2 and'including an invertedchannel-shaped guard carried by said parallelogram to guard the spaceincluded between said arm members and said block members, said guardmembers being so connected adjacent its opposite ends tosaidvparallelogram adjacent to said block members, respectively, toswing in said upright plane with said parallelogram.

5. In a counterpoising or equipoising apparatus having a plurality ofpivotally interconnected sections swingable about horizontal axes at thelocations of the pivotal interconnections, the inner of said sectionsbeing pivotally locations thereon and arranged and biased to exerttension at said locations so as to urge said long parallel arms towardeach otherand thus to resiliently urge said other of the short parallelarms toward theupper and lower extremes of permissab'lemovement wherebythe load carried by t he said other of said short parallel arms may bereadily positioned above and below the level' of said one short parallelarm,'and second resilient means connected to said parallelogram andarranged and biased' to urge said other of the short parallel armsupwardly relative to said'one'short parallel arm whereby the loadcarried'by the said other of the short parallel arms may receive sup:port from the said second resilient means. --6.-"1 "hecombinationclaimed incl-aim 5 and in which said first resilient means comprises acoil spring and cable assembly and a pulley, the pulley being journalledto said one short parallel arm, the cable being reeved about saidpulley, one end of the cable being secured to the parallelogram adjacentone of the long parallel arms and said other of the short parallel arms,the other end of the cable being secured to one end of the coil spring,and the other end of the coil spring being secured to the parallelogramadjacent the other of the long parallel arms and said other of the shortparallel arms.

7. The combination claimed in claim 6 and in which said first resilientmeans is positioned within said parallelogram and including a covercarried by said parallelogram and movable therewith, said coverextending along the opposite sides of said parallelogram and enclosingsaid first resilient means within said parallelogram.

8. The combination claimed in claim 5 and in which said second resilientmeans comprise a pair of coil springs disposed on opposite sides of saidparallelogram, one end of each said coil spring being anchored to theparallelogram adjacent the connection of the upper of the long parallelarms and the upper portion of said one short parallel arm and theopposite end of each said coil spring being anchored to theparallelogram adjacent the connection of the lower of the long parallelarms and the lower portion of said one short parallel arm.

9. The combination claimed in claim 8 and including telescopic tubesconcentrically surrounding each of said coil springs and telescopicallyadaptable to the length of the coil springs in the varied degrees of theextension supported by, and swingable on, a pivot support having avertical axis, the improvement in the outer of said sections of thecombination of a parallelogram disposed in a vertical plane, saidparallelogram having two relatively long parallel arms and tworelatively short parallel arms, said short parallel arms being disposedsubstantially upright and being pivotally connected to the opposite endsof the respective long parallel arms, one of said short parallel armsbeing supported by one of said pivotal interconnections of said sectionsand the other of said short parallel arms being adapted to carry a loadand to be movable up and down by the swinging of said long parallel armsup and down in a vertical plane relative to the said. one short parallelarm, first resilient means operatively connected to said parallelogramat three spaced thereof, said tubes providing a guard in all varieddegrees of extensionof the springs against intrusion between the coilsof the springs, one tube of each telescopic pair of tubes being anchoredto the parallelogram where anchored by said one end of the respectivecoil spring surrounded thereby, and the other tube of each telescopicpair of tubes being anchored to the parallelogram where anchored by saidopposite end of the respective coil spring surrounded thereby.

10. In combination, a plurality of arms pivotal-1y interconnected toform a variable parallelogram having two relatively long arms spacedfrom each other and two relatively short arms spaced from each other,variation in the spacing between said long arms providing variation inthe included angles in said parallelogram and a variation in the spacingbetween said short arms, said parallelogram being disposed in a commonvertical plane, one of said short arms being adapted to be supported ina vertical plane at a fixed elevation and the other of said short armsbeing adapted to support a load, said other of said short arms and loadsupported thereby being movable up and down as the spacing betweenopposite arms of the parallelogram is varied, first resilient meansoperatively interconnected to said parallelogram at three spacedlocations thereon and arranged and biased to exert tension at saidlocations so as to resiliently urge said long arms toward each other andthe other of said short arms alternately into its extreme upward andlower positions relative to said fixed elevation of the said one of saidshort arms, and second resilient means interconnected to saidparallelogram arranged and biased to resiliently urge said other of theshort arms and load carried thereby upwardly relative to said fixedposition of said one of the short arms and thereby to aid in the supportof said load.

11. The combination claimed in claim 10 and in which said first andsecond resilient means are so arranged, biased and proportioned that thefirst and second resilient means are disposed in opposition to eachother upon said other short arm being located generally below the levelof said fixed elevation of the first short arm and in complementary aidof each other upon said other short arm being located generally abovethe level of said fixed location.

12. The combination claimed in claim 10 and in which said firstresilient means includes a coil spring, a flexible cable attachedthereto and arranged in series therewith, and a pulley about which thecable is reeved, and in which said second resilient means includes apair of coil springs arranged in parallel.

References Cited UNITED CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner.

